Niska Road needs upgrade

Guelph Mercury

Something needs to happen along Niska Road in Guelph.

Some neighbours say if the city takes steps to replace the one-lane road on the street they’ll move. They say the upgrade would trigger a spike in traffic — particularly commercial truck traffic — adversely impacting safety and the quality of life in the area.

If the bridge were replaced in the not too distant future, there would certainly be an increase in traffic in the area, and traffic volumes using the roadway would certainly increase.

The thing is, if the bridge stays indefinitely, traffic in this area will also climb. It’s an increasingly popular alternate route to the Hanlon Expressway to many people in Guelph. With the pending arrival of a Costco store on the city’s west side, the city has already predicted a surge in traffic on roads accessing the area — specifically noting the likelihood for many more vehicles using Niska.

Those of the mind that the single-lane bridge and the tapering roadways leading into either side of it offer appropriate infrastructure for tomorrow, or much beyond today, are mistaken.

This is a roadway that has a history of terrible accidents and near misses because of its configuration and the speeds that motorists have historically brought to it.

The City of Guelph is looking to a new provincial infrastructure program to obtain funding to fast-track an upgrade of this roadway. If that effort comes through, that would be a welcome assist on this development. If all went well, it might cover almost all of the $2-million capital project.

But even if the province opts to back other applications, the municipality needs to go through with this development. The one-lane bridge installed on this roadway in the 1970s made sense then, particularly for the community and the local traffic flow of the era.